Duma Key: A Novel

A terrible accident takes Edgar Freemantle's right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. When his marriage suddenly ends, Edgar begins to wish he hadn't survived his injuries. He wants out. His psychologist suggests a new life distant from the Twin Cities, along with something else.

Dreamcatcher

A dark and sweeping adventure, Dreamcatcher is set in the haunted city of Derry - the site of Stephen King's It and Insomnia. In it, four young boys stand together and do a brave, good thing, an act that changes them in ways that they hardly understand. A quarter-century later, as grown men who have gone their separate ways, these friends come together once a year to hunt in the woods of Maine.

Needful Things

Leland Gaunt opens a new shop in Castle Rock called Needful Things. Anyone who enters his store finds the object of his or her lifelong dreams and desires: a prized baseball card, a healing amulet. In addition to a token payment, Gaunt requests that each person perform a little "deed", usually a seemingly innocent prank played on someone else from town. These practical jokes cascade out of control, and soon the entire town is doing battle with itself. Only Sheriff Alan Pangborn suspects that Gaunt is behind the population's increasingly violent behavior.

Hearts in Atlantis

All the stories in this collection from Stephen King are related to the Vietnam War. King fans will recognize echoes of The Dark Tower series in the collection's first story, "Low Men in Yellow Coats." As the characters develop over the next four stories, King's version of the Vietnam War becomes one of his most frightening tales ever.

Rose Madder

Rosie Daniels leaves her husband, Norman, after 14 years in an abusive marriage. She is determined to lose herself in a place where he won't find her. She'll worry about all the rest later. Alone in a strange city, she begins to make a new life, and good things finally start to happen. Meeting Bill is one, and getting an apartment is another. Still, it's hard for Rosie not to keep looking over her shoulder, and with good reason. Norman is a cop, with the instincts of a predator.

The master at his scarifying best! From heart-pounding terror to the eeriest of whimsy - tales from the outer limits of one of the greatest imaginations of our time! Trucks that punish and beautiful teen demons who seduce a young man to massacre; curses whose malevolence grows through the years; obscene presences and angels of grace - here, indeed, is a night-blooming bouquet of chills and thrills.

Desperation

Located off a desolate stretch of Interstate 50, Desperation, Nevada, has few connections with the rest of the world. It is a place, though, where the seams between worlds are thin. And it is a place where several travelers are abducted by Collie Entragian, the maniacal police officer of Desperation. Entragian uses various ploys for the abductions, from an arrest for drug possession to "rescuing" a family from a nonexistent gunman.

Insomnia

Since his wife died, Ralph Roberts has been having trouble sleeping. Each night he wakes up a bit earlier until he's barely sleeping at all. During his late-night walks, he observes some strange things going on in Derry, Maine. He sees colored ribbons streaming from people's heads, two strange little men wandering around town after dark, and more. He begins to suspect that these visions are something more than hallucinations brought on by lack of sleep.

Lisey's Story

Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a 25-year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, best-selling novelist, and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey had to learn from him about books and blood and "bools". Later, she understood that there was a place Scott went, a place that both terrified and healed him, could eat him alive, or give him the ideas he needed in order to live.

The Dark Half

Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the twisted imagination that produced his best-selling novels. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home. But how can Thad deny the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it - and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?

Salem's Lot

Ben Mears has returned to Jerusalem's Lot in the hopes that living in an old mansion, long the subject of town lore, will help him cast out his own devils and provide inspiration for his new book. But when two young boys venture into the woods and only one comes out alive Mears begins to realize that there may be something sinister at work and that his hometown is under siege by forces of darkness far beyond his control.

Under the Dome: A Novel

On an entirely normal, beautiful fall day in Chester's Mill, Maine, the town is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener's hand is severed as "the dome" comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact. No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when - or if - it will go away.

The Regulators

Peaceful suburbia on Poplar Street in Wentworth, Ohio, takes a turn for the ugly when four vans containing armed "regulators" terrorize the street's residents, cold-bloodedly killing anyone foolish enough to step outside their homes. Houses mysteriously transform into log cabins, and the street now ends in what looks like a child's hand-drawn Western landscape. Masterminding this sudden onslaught is the evil creature Tak, who has taken over the body of an autistic eight-year-old boy, Seth Garin.

From a Buick 8

Stephen King's first full-length solo novel since Dreamcatcher, the long-awaited From a Buick 8 is "nearly flawless and one terrific entertainment," says Publishers Weekly. A strange car acts as a conduit between our world and some other...and the boogeyman of this creepy story is our collective fascination with deadly things.

The Talisman

On a brisk autumn day, a 13-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: His father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America - and into another realm. One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery.

Dolores Claiborne

Dolores Claiborne is suspected of killing Vera Donovan, her wealthy employer, and when the police question her, she tells the story of her life, harkening back to her disintegrating marriage and the suspicious death of her violent husband 30 years earlier. Dolores also tells of Vera's physical and mental decline and how she became emotionally demanding in recent years.

Full Dark, No Stars

"I believe there is another man inside every man, a stranger...." writes Wilfred Leland James in the early pages of the riveting confession that makes up "1922", the first in this pitch-black quartet of mesmerizing tales from Stephen King. For James, that stranger is awakened when his wife, Arlette, proposes selling off the family homestead and moving to Omaha, setting in motion a gruesome train of murder and madness.

The Tommyknockers

Writer Bobbi Anderson becomes obsessed with digging up something she's found buried in the woods near her home. With the help of her friend, Jim Gardener, she uncovers an alien spaceship. Though exposure to the Tommyknockers, who piloted the alien ship, has harmful effects on residents' health, the people of Haven develop a talent for creating innovative devices under their increasingly malignant influence.

Four Past Midnight

Four chiller novellas set to keep listeners awake long after bedtime. One Past Midnight: "The Langoliers" takes a red-eye flight from LA to Boston into a most unfriendly sky. Only 11 passengers survive, but landing in an eerily empty world makes them wish they hadn't. Something's waiting for them, you see.

Doctor Sleep: A Novel

Stephen King returns to the characters and territory of one of his most popular novels ever, The Shining, in this instantly riveting novel about the now middle-aged Dan Torrance (the boy protagonist of The Shining) and the very special 12-year-old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals. This is an epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted fans of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.

Cell: A Novel

The cause of the devastation is a phenomenon that will come to be known as The Pulse, and the delivery method is a cell phone. Everyone's cell phone. Clay and the few desperate survivors who join him suddenly find themselves in the pitch-black night of civilization's darkest age, surrounded by chaos, carnage, and a human horde that has been reduced to its basest nature...and then begins to evolve.

Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales

The first collection of stories Stephen King has published since Nightmares & Dreamscapes nine years ago, Everything's Eventual includes one O. Henry Prize winner, two other award winners, four stories published by The New Yorker, and "Riding the Bullet", King's original e-book, which attracted over half a million online readers and became the most famous short story of the decade. Intense, eerie, and instantly compelling, they announce the stunningly fertile imagination of perhaps the greatest storyteller of our time.

Revival: A Novel

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs - including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession.

It

Welcome to Derry, Maine. It's a small city, a place as hauntingly familiar as your own hometown. Only in Derry the haunting is real. They were seven teenagers when they first stumbled upon the horror. Now they are grown-up men and women who have gone out into the big world to gain success and happiness. But the promise they made 28 years ago calls them to reunite in the same place where, as teenagers, they battled an evil creature that preyed on the city's children.

Publisher's Summary

Even four years after the sudden death of his wife, best selling novelist Mike Noonan can't stop grieving, nor can he return to his writing. Now his nights are plagued by vivid nightmares of the house by the lake. Despite these dreams, or perhaps because of them, he decides to return to Sara Laughs, the Noonans' isolated summer home. In his beloved Yankee town, he finds himself falling in love with a widowed young mother, who struggles to keep custody of her 3-year-old daughter. He is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations, ever-escalating nightmares, and the sudden recovery of his writing ability. What are the forces that have been unleashed here - and what do they want of Mike Noonan?

What the Critics Say

"The witty and obsessive voice of King's powerful imagination." (Amy Tan)"What King lacks in professional polish he makes up for with an infectious enthusiasm that will lock in listeners for the long haul." (Publishers Weekly)

I used to not like Stephen King, but lately I've gotten into some of his more character-driven works, and found that when he concentrates on the characters instead of the beasties, he's pretty darned good. Even with this new respect for him, I was surprised by the quality of this novel. Everything works in it, even King's reading of it.

The book is sad through much of it, as you will guess from the first line, so don't listen hoping for a cheerful experience. But the characters are complex and the presentation of the local town where most of the story happens is observant and detailed, and King takes his time developing the mystery. He doesn't even introduce the mystery until far longer than you'd think possible. Still, it will captivate you until he does, and throughout, and not just through the mystery, but through the character interactions and even the moral questions raised.

This book has several layers of story, from the horror story to the romance to the backstory that is slowly developed. Through it all there is a mythical and psychological element to have you working out how much King meant to be metaphor, not just story.

Excellent book. May just change your opinion of where Stephen King fits in the world of literature. This is the type of book that when you finish, you won't want to start another book for a while, because you won't want the taste to leave you.

<U>Bag of Bones</U> is probably the most complete and satisfying Stephen King novel I have <I>heard</I> to date and the fact that it is read by the author is a big plus! Stephen King will be the first to tell you that he isn't a "professional voice" but as he happens to be the author of the book (duh!), his knowledge of the characters, not only what they say but also how they say it is, as they say, priceless.

<U>Bag of Bones</U> is a ghost story, a love story, and a "whodunit and why" murder mystery all rolled into one. It is also a story that leaves the listener in doubt about the chosen sides of many of the characters right through to the end of the novel. Complemented by sound and music, with lyrics by the author, the audio version of this book (I have both read and listened to this one) is the far superior way to experience the story.

Also, the audio version includes a terrific interview of the author by Eve Beglarian, who produced the audio version. This interview gives the listener an even deeper vision of the story as well as a glimpse into the life of the author and his whole hearted endorsement of audio books as a preferred medium for narrative.

This is not just a story that keeps you on the edge of your proverbial seat - although it does that in places. The characters are developed, the plot thickens and the noverl is worthy of in-depth critical analysis - not just a review in the local Gazette. Gore was kept to a minimum which is important to me - I enjoy the psychological angle - a la Hitchcock. A few other reviewers did not care for King's narration. I enjoyed it. There is a quiet, matter of factness with underlying sadness. I hope he writes another book with this type of thoughtfulness.

The book is better then some of the Steven King novels where you get a book inside a book, it doesn't tend to ramble about but flows around the story. I enjoyed it and will listen again. I liked having Steven King as the narrator and I think he did justice to his own book.

I have been a fan of Stephen King's books for quite a while and have to say that Bag of Bones is one of his best! Somehow, I missed reading it when it first came out, but am so glad to have purchased the audio version recently. I love to hear Stephen reading Stephen. He makes me feel as if I'm sitting right in front of him, in his living room, listening to him spin his yarns just for me. I feel every flinch, hear every sound, as if I'm right there in the story with him. Very Good book and a necessity for any Stephen King fan.

Stephen King goes gothic. It is also, as far as I know, the first time this author has attempted to write a romance. Of course, don't expect anything close to Harlequin. For one, it's about a million times longer. King tends to go on a bit when he doesn't need to. However, if you are a King fan you probably won't be too disappointed.

Recording: I found the best part of this book, by far, was the recording. King reads this himself, which means he knows exactly what it should sound like. He has also used music to enhance several areas of the novel.

Weakness: This isn't an edge of your seat book. It starts slow and never takes on a breakneck pace.

This is a book for people who enjoy a slow-paced ghost story that takes advantage of a remote and spooky environment.

Without doubt Stephen King's best! I have listened to it three times since it came out and enjoy it more with each experience. This is perhaps his most "autobiographical" book as he uses the character of a popular fiction writer to express what might well be some of his own deep-seated fears in life. Although his narration obviously lacks the polish of some of the truly great narrators, his voice gives the story an amazing authenticity that draws you into Western Maine and the lives of his characters. And, of course, it terrifies with his best.

Read by Steven King the way it was intended.Once you get into to it it just keeps giving. Unlike some of his other work that just dies at the end. The interconnection of events and the way he lays it out is great

I love this book. Stephen King has a wonderful knack of slowly shifting you from the real world to the surreal in a manner that you don't know it's happening until it's too late. This book does all that and more. Read by the author himself - you hear the story exactly as he wants to tell it - it's an unmissable treat.

I have been an avid audio book fan for over two years now and for an audio book to be enjoyable it is imperative that the narrator is good. Believe me - Stephen King is a great narrator. When I am reviewing books I don't like to talk much about the plot as I don't like to give the game away, so I just want to say that IMHO this book was just made for audio and comes across in this format much better than it did in print.

The book is full of snippets of music (which really add to the eerie ambience of the story), and the number of literary references within the tale is stunning.

The interview with Stephen King at the end of the book is very, very interesting. I note that audible sells this interview. Don't bother buying that - buy this instead and hear the master at work. I only wish Stephen King narrated all his own books.

Even if you are not a Stephen King fan - (which I was not), this book is well worth anyone's audio credit.

19 of 20 people found this review helpful

sd rogerson

8/29/05

Overall

"Astounding"

1. Amazing quality.
2. Stephen King is brilliant at narrating his own work
3. The music that is added is superb in creating atmosphere.

It is more than an audio book it is an experience.
Tremendous - you won't regret buying this...........a pity he hasn't narrated all his own books.

An excellent production.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Mike

Barnsley, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom

5/16/06

Overall

"Not my normal reading - But excellent"

I've always had this thing about Stephen King; having never read one of his books and only knowing his work from film. I believed he wasn't my cup of tea but I have to say I really enjoyed this audiobook. I found the music a bit off-putting and the authors voice a little monotone but the story moves along at a fair pace, having a two hour each way commute the time was eaten up and I found myself sitting in the car listening even after reaching home.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

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